What Happens On Tour
by rossthedivorceforce
Summary: James Potter goes from a dorky teenager to the lead singer of a globally famous rock band in the blink of an eye. But it's not all glamorous, and he struggles with the pressure of juggling his music career and his love life amidst bitter rivalries. Modern/Muggle AU.
1. Chapter 1

**2009**

"You hear the news?" Sirius asked as he sat in James' room, James strumming on a guitar.

"What news?" he replied absent-mindedly.

"Fall Out Boy are on hiatus."

James stopped strumming, the pick dangling from his hand. "Really?"

"Yeah. It's sad man, you know? They've been around for... what, six years? Since we were ten."

James nodded. "Same amount of time as I've been playing guitar for."

"Really? That long?"

James nodded again.

"Hey, wouldn't it be cool to be in a band?" Sirius sighed. "Touring, money... and girls like a guy in a band. I think."

"You think?"

"Well, yeah. I mean, I've not consulted them. The girls. But I think so."

James grinned. "I don't think any girl would talk to you for long enough to tell you."

"Now, see, that's where being in a band comes in. They'd talk to me then."

James laughed. "Well, why don't we start a band? I mean, I play guitar and I can kinda sing. And you play guitar as well, don't you?"

Sirius shrugged. "Used to. I could probably still remember a few chords."

James stood up out of pure excitement. "Man, let's do this!"

"Secret handshake?" Sirius offered.

James hesitated. "I don't know, man, don't you think we're a bit old for – Yeah, okay."

The pair laughed and performed what was only loosely speaking a handshake – more like an elaborate routine – and ended with the pair uttering what had been their motto since they'd met at the age of eleven: "I solemnly swear I am up to no good."

James frowned. "Do you think we're too dorky to be in a band?"

Sirius shrugged. "We'll work it out."


	2. Chapter 2

"Come on, Remus," James pleaded. "Nobody else plays the bass! Why don't you want to do it?"

Remus rolled his eyes. "Because it's in the middle of exams. Because I don't think any amount of music would get girls to like me – or either of you, for that matter. Because your band sounds stupid and you guys are stupid. Take your pick." Sirius and James gasped in mock offense.

It was the end of a school day – a day that had been spent trying in vain to persuade Remus to join their band. He was having none of it, although the pair hoped that their nagging would wear him down.

"Hey, I play drums," the small, chubby kid walking behind them piped up. Peter Pettigrew. He was known around the school as a stoner, but not much else. He didn't seem to have any friends, was constantly snacking on something and a common joke around the school was that you could smell his body odour from space. It was probably true.

But he seemed to be a nice guy, and if he brought them one step closer to having a full band then he was alright by James.

"Hey, Remus, Peter's in," James called, as Remus sped ahead in an effort to avoid the constant begging. "You're letting us all down here."

Remus sighed and stopped, allowing the other three to catch up to him. "I cannot believe I'm letting you win here, but fine," he groaned. "I'll do it."

James and Sirius cheered and attempted to pull him into a group hug, receiving only slaps to the back of the head for their efforts.

"My place tonight!" James called as Remus hurried off, probably internally cursing the pair of them.


	3. Chapter 3

They were awful. Really, really awful.

The guitars roared harshly, out of time with each other, Sirius struggling to even string together chords whilst James played them effortlessly. The drums – previously owned by James's dad, dusted off after being left in the garage for years - thudded and crashed, drowning out James's voice. Remus's bass was out of tune and barely audible.

But it was the most fun any of them had had in ages and by the end of it there was a smile on even Remus's face. Peter stepped out from behind the kit, breathing heavily, face red. "We're good, guys," he said with a grin. "Really good."

Remus snorted. "Yeah, might as well just quit school now and buy a tour bus," he said sarcastically.

Peter's mouth dropped open. "Should we really do that? I think we should do that."

Remus stared at him incredulously, apparently never having come across someone who didn't understand his sarcasm. "Peter, I'm sorry to break this to you, I really am, but we're not great. At all."

Sirius hit Remus on the arm. "Wrong attitude. What you mean is, we're not great _yet_."

"No, I mean that we're not great. Not now, probably not ever. I also mean that I am regretting ever joining this godforsaken band."

"Come on," James interjected. "You were enjoying yourself there, admit it."

"James, people aren't going to pay to see us _enjoy ourselves _on stage. People are going to pay to listen to good music."

"So what?" James retorted. "This band isn't about people paying to see us. I mean, yeah, it would be nice. But this band is about the music. This band is about giving ourselves a voice. And yeah, this band is about having a good time."

"Funny, because I recall you advertising this band to me as a free pass to money and girls."

James shrugged and grinned at Sirius. "I almost convinced him. Still, that sounded deep as hell. Girls like that, right?"

Remus rolled his eyes. "Look, I'll stay in this band because although you two –" He pointed at James and Sirius, " – are annoying as hell, I've known you since I was eleven and for some reason, I like you."

"It's the devilishly good looks," James suggested.

"And the superior intelligence," added Sirius.

"No, something tells me that's not it," Remus replied with a smile. "Anyway, as I was saying, I'll stay in this band, but we need to get our acts together. We need to really practice. And we need a band name."

Peter cleared his throat. "I actually had an idea for that." The others looked at him expectantly. "I was thinking... what about The Marauders?"


	4. Chapter 4

**2011**

James knew it was arrogant to say it, but they were good. Dammit, they were good.

His fingers swept effortlessly over the frets, the sound of his guitar merging beautifully with Sirius's. The bass flowed perfectly over Peter's drumming. Sirius sang backup vocals, his voice perfectly complimenting James's.

Peter struck the crash cymbal with a flourish, indicating the end of the song. James turned around and beamed at the rest of the band, his guitar swinging from his neck.

"That was amazing, guys," he said. "Really, really good. We're definitely ready for the show tomorrow."

This was set to be the biggest show they'd ever played. 100 tickets had been sold. Sure, most of them were friends or family of the band members, but it felt huge.

James wasn't nervous though. They'd practiced every week for two years and he was confident that they were by now a talented band.

"We're going to rock it tomorrow," Sirius said, offering a high five to James. He accepted the high five and nodded.

"Damn right we are."

* * *

There may only have been a hundred people stood in front of James, but it felt like a million. The venue was a small bar, the size of which made the audience seem even more daunting – it was packed full of people.

James took a deep breath. "Thanks for coming out, we are The Marauders." A cheer came from the crowd, James's mother the loudest. He smiled bashfully. "This first song's a cover of the band that first inspired us to make music, it's called Sugar We're Goin' Down. You can sing along if you know it."

Peter's drums echoed through the venue. He only played for a short while before the other instruments came in, but it felt like an eternity. James gulped, his fingers digging into the strings, ready to start playing. He could do this. He could do this.

The moment he began to play, he forgot about the crowd. All he knew was that he was here, up on this stage, playing his guitar, with his three best friends surrounding him. And that this was all he wanted to do, for the rest of his life.

He began to sing and to his surprise, a few people chanted the lyrics along with him. Hardly any – maybe ten out of the total hundred – were singing, but it sent chills shooting down his spine.

* * *

The show was over. Most of the audience had left or had lost interest and were now at the bar, drinking. James laid his guitar down in its case and began to assist Peter with disassembling the drums.

"That was... incredible," Sirius laughed. "We were so good!"

Remus cracked a smile. "I still don't know how the pair of you managed to convince me to join this band, but I'm glad I did."

Sirius led the way off the stage and up to the bar. He was the only member of the band to have turned eighteen, and flaunted this by buying the quartet drinks.

The man next to them at the bar turned to them. He looked to be around mid to late fifties and was lean with a bushy white beard. "You lads were really great up there," he remarked.

"Thanks," James said with a wide smile.

The man held out his hand. "I'm Albus Dumbledore."

Sirius frowned as he shook it. "Is that your real name? That doesn't sound like a real name."

The man chuckled. "I'm afraid so. I assure you, I curse my parents every day. Listen, I'm going to get straight to the point. I want to be your manager. I've been at a few of your shows and I think you have the potential to be big. Very big. I have contacts in record labels. Four young guys like you with the talent you have, it shouldn't be hard to get you signed. I know you may need some time to think this over, but take my card and call me when you've made a decision." He reached into his inside pocket and pulled out a business card before handing it to Sirius.

James thought about how he'd felt up on that stage, with the crowd singing along with him. How he'd felt like the music was the only thing that mattered in that moment. How he never wanted to leave the stage. If this guy could offer even a possibility of doing this for the rest of his life, then...

He turned to the rest of the band and furrowed his eyebrows, as if to ask them their thoughts. Remus offered an almost imperceptible nod of the head, as did Sirius and eventually Peter.

"Actually, Mr... Dumbledore," James said. "I, erm... I think we've already made our decision."


	5. Chapter 5

As far as James was concerned, maths was a waste of time. He didn't have a clue what he'd do with himself if he didn't end up in The Marauders professionally, but he sure as hell wasn't going to be a mathematician. Yet still, maths was the only subject he actually looked forward to. Not because he was in any way, shape or form good at it or because he even slightly enjoyed wading through pages and pages of a textbook filled with equations that made absolutely no sense to him.

But maths was the only lesson in which Lily Evans sat next to him. So every lesson he endured an hour of mind-numbing sums that made no sense to him, whilst she endured an hour of sitting next to him.

On this particular day, the sun beat down onto the windows of the classroom and the heat bored into the room. James was almost asleep, head slumped onto the table. He was vaguely aware of his teacher droning about something, although he didn't know and didn't care what.

But he was aware of Sirius, sat behind him, tapping him on the back. James jolted up and spun to face his friend. "What?"

Sirius snorted and pointed to the front of the classroom. James slowly turned his head, to see the teacher staring at him, eyes bulging. "Mr Potter, this is a maths lesson," he said. "Please try and stay awake."

"I'll try my best, sir," James replied with a grin.

"Maybe you could answer the question on the board," the old man continued, angered by James's cheek. "What is the value of _x_?"

James stared at the shape on the board, but he might as well have been asked to tap-dance whilst juggling and riding an elephant. In truth, he would have had more chance of achieving that. Still, it was worth a guess.

"93, sir," James said with complete confidence.

"And where did you get 93 from, Mr Potter?"

"I pulled it out my arse, if I'm telling you the truth."

The class laughed, with the exception of Lily, who rolled her eyes exasperatedly. The teacher smiled sarcastically. "Yes, very funny, James. So funny, in fact, that you can stay behind for half an hour of your lunchtime to tell me more jokes."

The class laughed again but this time James was the butt of the joke. He smiled politely. "I'll try and think of some for you, then."

"Can anyone tell me the _actual _value of _x_?"

Lily raised her hand immediately. Sensing an opportunity, James slowly leaned forwards and high-fived her outstretched hand. Once again, a laugh spread through the classroom, but if looks could kill, the glare Lily gave James was the equivalent of shooting him straight through the heart and killing him within seconds, then shooting him an extra few times just to be sure.

"It's 126, sir," she said through gritted teeth. Inevitably, her answer was correct, although James was damned if he had any idea how she had got there.

The bell rang, signifying the beginning of lunch. James raced out of the room before anyone remembered the detention he had been given, before slowing down and allowing the other students to walk past. As Lily left the room James swiftly began to walk behind her. He deliberately dropped his textbook to the floor with a _thud. _Lily glanced behind her to determine the source of the noise.

"Evans!" James called. She stopped walking with a groan.

"What is it, James?"

"You dropped your textbook," he said, holding out his own textbook to her.

"Did I?"

"Uh... no. This is... this is my textbook. But, hey, now we're talking, I might as well ask – do you want to go to the cinema with me some time?"

Lily stared at him as if he had three heads. "Why the hell would I do that?"

"Because I'm irresistible."

"Bye, James." She made to walk off.

"I play in a band," James added desperately.

"And?"

"And... we're really good."

"Okay. Congratulations. I'm still not going out with you."

"We're playing on Saturday night, in The Underground. Come and see us?"

Lily sighed. "James, I'm not –"

"I'll pay for your drinks."

Remus chose that moment to creep up behind James. "Hey, man. You ready for Saturday?"

"I was just inviting Lily, actually."

"No he wasn't," Lily interrupted. "He was _trying _to. And failing. Miserably."

"Come on, Lily," Remus said. He got on much better with Lily than James did – they lived on the same road and they'd known each other since they were kids. "I'm in it as well."

Lily reconsidered. "Okay. As a friend, though. A friend of Remus. And James, you're still paying for my drinks." She spotted a gaggle of her friends leaving a classroom further down the corridor. "Okay, I'm off. See you on Saturday, I guess."

James slapped Remus on the back. "Yes, Remus! You are the perfect wingman, my man."

Remus snorted. "I'm not anyone's wingman. She's coming for me, get over yourself."


End file.
